Attendance: 11

Items voted on: 4

Meeting highlights: Members voted on a letter of support to the County for the development of a gas station with deli at the old Sonoco site.

1. Welcome and introductions

• Art Ovalle, President

• Ray Novitske, Vice President

• Laura Main, Treasurer

• Yi Pei, Secretary

2. HCA Committee Reports:

• Mount Vernon Council of Community Associations (MVCCA)

• General council meeting - Art Ovalle

• Discussed the new gas station owner (of the former Sonoco site) to HCA last month. Art presented the case of why HCA was not entirely against the land owner putting a gas station there. MVCCA is still generally against it due to a new business there making it more difficult to re-develop the land later on as a bigger beautification project (though the date of this bigger project has been uncertain for several years and remains uncertain).

• Dominion Energy attended the meeting and presented on their “grounding” projects in various communities, which is putting overhead power lines underground in order to prevent outages. Which neighborhood is eligible to have this project done is determined based on Dominion's power outage data. HCA will send them our relevant zipcode to see if we qualify.

• The timeline for such projects are beyond three years. Also notable is that even if the power lines are underground, internet cables are likely to continue to be above ground, because those utility companies do not want to spend the money to get their cables underground, despite Dominion offering to partner on the projects.

• Planning and Zoning - Ray Novitske

• Upcoming meeting on Monday

• Transportation - Jeff Woodward

• No report, Jeff wasn't in attendance

• Environment and Recreation - Alan Ruof

• No meeting

• Education - Mega Woodward

• No meeting

• Budget and Finance - still looking for a rep! If you're interested, please contact Art at President@huntingtononline.org

• Neighborhood Watch - still looking for a rep! If you're interested, please contact Art at President@huntingtononline.org

3. New Business/Action Items

• Discuss and vote on a letter of support for the proposed gas station located at 5928 Richmond Highway (former Sonoco gas station)

• HCA voting members officially voted to submit a letter of support for the development of a gas station at the former Sonoco station, specifically supporting: a deli with the gas station, EV charging stations, and adequate lighting and security, and a special exception permit for 10-15 years. The letter will also say that the HCA support the owner's promise to maintain in good condition the state-owned storm water facility, keep the area clean, and do their research for pedestrian access.

• Votes 7-0 yes

• Nominations for 2020 HCA Officers Positions - President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary

• Nomination for Arva to be secretary, votes 7-0 yes

• Nomination for Ray Novitzke for VP, votes 7-0 yes

• Nomination for Laura Main for treasurer, 7-0 yes

• Annual Holiday Potluck: Thursday, December 5th at 7:30pm. More info to come via the HCA List Serv.

4. Old Business/Updates

• New development updates

• Huntington Crossing Project (condos behind midtown)

• The developer has received technical approval for the project and are securing permits, they anticipate starting construction in December 2019. Developer scheduled to present to HCA at the January meeting.

• Riverside apartments

• Doing some electrical work underground right now

• Metro station development

• the land owner is currently looking for developers to develop the area around the metro station (possibly with some shops). There will be a chance later on for HCA to provide input in what we'd like to see as part of the project.

• Dim Light Program for Fenwick Dr. and Kathryn St.

• Both streets are qualified to go ahead with getting petitions from residents; Art and Alan Ruof will get signatures from Kathryn St. and Fenwick Dr. residents respectively. Once the petitions are in, there will need to be a vote of which street to get the light upgrades first, since we can only submit one street per year.

• Dim Light Program for Farrington Ave.

• 90% done, still a bit more to go